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Otolaryngology Coding Alert

Diagnosis Coding:

2 Tips Streamline Your Cut Throat Dysphonia Claims

Published on Thu Jun 16, 2011

Knowing your throat anatomy could keep you in the game.When a patient presents with common neck/throat conditions, you should be able to code the symptoms being treated, and any disorder causing the symptoms. Along with the primary diagnosis, make sure you report the patient's signs and symptoms or else risk an audit.Consider this scenario: An ENT diagnoses a patient with dysphonia (voice disorder), and also locates a benign growth on the vocal folds. How should you report it?These two steps show you how to free up your claim from unnecessary excess baggage.Know When Dysphonia Code Should Take A Front SeatIn the scenario given, dysphonia identifies as the symptom, and the vocal nodules as its cause. Thus, you should list 784.42 (Dysphonia) as your primary code, and 478.32 (Complete unilateral paralysis of vocal cords) as secondary. Remember, you should code for more specific diagnoses for any pathologies your ENT would find, [...]
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